Huskers Finish Sixth at NCAA Championships

Birmingham, Ala. – The Nebraska women’s gymnastics team posted a score of 196.500 Saturday evening to finish sixth overall at the Super Six Finals of the NCAA Championships at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex.

The Huskers have finished in the No. 6 spot at the NCAA Championships five times in school history. The last time Nebraska came in sixth was in 2007, when NU posted a score of 195.975.

The Big Red, who were making their 11th overall Super Six appearance, closed the year with a 27-11record. Nebraska posted the fourth highest score in Super Six history for the Huskers.

For the first time in NCAA history two teams of Florida and Oklahoma took home the 2014 team title with a score of 198.175. LSU placed third (197.600), Alabama fourth (197.550) and Georgia fifth (197.050).

NU kicked off the evening on floor producing a 49.225 team score led by the three-time All-American on the event, Emily Wong’s 9.90 mark. Hollie Blanske delivered a strong 9.85 performance while the duo of Desire’ Stephens and Jessie DeZiel tacked on 9.825 scores.

The Huskers carried momentum over to vault hitting a 49.275. DeZiel put up a 9.925 score in the anchor spot to fuel NU. Senior Wong tallied a strong 9.875 performance while Blanske (9.85), Martin (9.825) and Stephens (9.80) rounded out the vault scores for the Huskers.

After each team had competed on two events, Nebraska sat in fifth-place behind, Alabama (99.150), Florida (99.050), Oklahoma (99.025), LSU (98.725) and ahead of Georgia (98.250).

Following a bye, NU moved to bars experiencing struggles with the first few routines but freshman Laeng sparked the lineup with her 9.825 performance. Blanske went on to deliver a 9.80 effort while DeZiel added a strong 9.85 mark. Wong in her last bar routine as a Husker recorded a beautiful 9.90 to anchor the bar lineup.

Nebraska ended the evening on beam posting a 49.125 paced by Wong’s 9.95 routine. The duo of Blanske and Laeng both hit clutch routines to notch identical 9.90 efforts and to claim career-high scores on the event. DeZiel added on a 9.775 score to the beam lineup.

Four Huskers- Blanske, DeZiel, Schleppenbach and Wong – will compete in Sunday’s NCAA Individual Event Finals at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex at 2 p.m. CT. The meet will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com.